Sony Handycam HDR-CX100 average quality HD camcorder
Sum and Substance:
Thumbs Up:
Compact, small in size.
Thumbs Down:
Unimpressive video quality.
Inside the Trunk:
Component video cable, USB cable, A/V cable.
The Whiz Kid Speaks:
Sony Handycam HDR-CX100 is a 1080i camcorder, with 120x digital zoom, optical sensor size is 1/5”, videos are stored in AVCHD, MPEG-2 format, minimum shutter speed is 1/60 second and maximum shutter speed is 1/1000 second, shooting programs include twilight mode, portrait mode, spotlight, landscape, fireworks, sunrise, sunset, candle, beach.
Camcorder sensor resolution is 2.36 mega pixels, effective still resolution is 2 mega pixels, interpolated still resolution is 4 mega pixels, images are stored in JPEG format. The camcorder has 8 GB on internal memory. The camcorder has 2.7 inch touch screen TFT LCD.
The device has Zoom lens – 3.2 mm – 32 mm – F/1.8-2.2, lens aperture is F/1.8-2.2, with focal length of 3.2mm-32mm, has 10x optical zoom, minimum focal lengths is 3.2 mm, maximum focal length is 32 mm, lens is manufactured by Carl Zeiss, filter size is 30 mm.
Additional features include Dolby Digital AC-3 (2 channel) recording, Takes photos while movie recording, Dynamic Range Optimizer, Smile Detection technology, Backlight compensation, USB 2.0 compatibility, Touch-screen control, PictBridge support, Face detection.
Connectors on the camcorder include S-video output, HDMI output, component video output, USB, composite video/audio output. Sony NP-FH50 is powered by li-ion rechargeable battery.
Razzle Dazzle:
HDR-CX100 is a full sized camcorder but Sony has managed to keep it small and hence it fits easily in your jacket pocket. The exterior is glossy and will attract a lot of fingerprints on to it. It comes in color options of bright red, traditional silver and basic black. It has a box like design and is a very cute camcorder owing to the small size.
Inside Dope:
HDR-CX100 is Sony’s first attempt at a HD camcorder and the manufacturer has tried to keep the price low. In the end you get a cheap camcorder but it doesn’t give great quality videos. Get this camcorder if you are looking for something cheap and are willing to compromise on quality.
The HDR-CX100 is pretty but doesn’t have good ergonomics when you are shooting. We couldn’t hold the camcorder properly because of the awkward design. We also had to struggle to keep the device still in our hands. For shooting stills, you need both the hands, one to hold the camcorder and other one to press the shutter button. The camcorder has a 2.7 inch touch screen display. It is very small in size and pressing the tiny onscreen buttons is miserable experience. We had lots of mis hits in our labs. The LCD also performs poorly in bright sunlight, it accumulates a lot of fingerprints which makes the display worse.
The functions like display info, power, playback, full auto easy and direct DVD burn are located on the touch screen display and the record, zoom and home buttons live on the bezel of the LCD. On the LCD cavity, there is mini-HDMI and USB connector, Memory Stick Duo slot, proprietary AV jack and charging connector.
We found the menu system a bit frustrating to use. The touch screen is responsive and fast but the structure of the menu is convoluted and it is hard to remember where the functions are located. On the home menu you get three capture modes – smooth slow record, photo and movie. You can also toggle through these modes through the mode switch. The Manage Media feature lets you choose if you want to store the media in the internal eight GB memory or external memory card. There are also settings for options like smile shutter, face detection, output settings, toggle between the high or standard definition. Options menu contains settings which relate to shooting like recording quality (bit rate), scene modes, white balance, manual exposure and focus and spot meter and focus.
The highest quality is 16 Mbps and it takes up a gigabyte of space in seven minutes. The eight gig internal memory can thus store 55 minutes of video. The economical 9 Mbps mode takes up a gig in 10 minutes of video recording.
There are a few goodies spawned like scene modes, smile shutter and face detection but other than that there is nothing spectacular about the HDR-CX100. Sony also sacrifices the 5.1 channel surround and gives us the typical 2-channel mode.
Sony gives us a 1/5-inch 2.4-megapixel Exmor ClearVid sensor in the HDR-CX100 and it is great in shooting in dim light conditions. Video quality is not great, just average quality. In conditions of bright sunlight the highlights look blow out, colors are saturated and attractive. The device has a 10x zoom lens and the image stabilization worked with it. We viewed a few videos on HDTV, they looked sharp but the edges were smeary.
Nitty Gritty:
Sony Handycam HDR-CX100 is not great on video quality. Apart from the small compact size, this camcorder cannot compete with other devices in the similar price range. We would recommend you to go for Canon Vixia HF100 if you are a camcorder enthusiast.
